EP 476: NomadicMatt 1.6M Monthly Views, $400k Travel Insurance Sold Monthly with Matt Kepnes

Matt Kepnes of NomadicMatt.com, the man who went from everyday worker to travel writer. Matt grew up in Boston and he didn’t take his first trip until he was 23—a cruise to Montreal. After he started a life as a young professional, he decided to travel the world, so he headed to Costa Rica in 2004, Taiwan in 2005, and never looked back. Listen as Matt talks about the success of his blog and how he grew it from a simple online journal.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Influence
• What CEO do you follow? –  N/A

• Favorite online tool? — N/A
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
• If you could let your 20-year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Value eating healthy”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:40 – Nathan introduces Matt to the show
• 02:53 – Matt was working in administration
• 03:16 – Number of unique website users on average per month is 1.2 million
• 03:27 – Matt started the blog in 2008 after 14 months of traveling
• 03:50 – Matt built the blog as an online resume
• 04:17 – Matt is getting more visitors in 2010
• 04:29 – Matt wanted to write guidebooks so he made his blog a guidebook
• 04:56 – 2/3 of Matt’s income comes from affiliates
• 05:30 – Matt’s book is The Ultimate Guide to Travel Hacking
• • 05:40 – Matt self-published the book
• 05:46 – Matt’s book with a publisher is How to Travel the World on $ 50 a Day
• • 05:53 – Matt is only getting royalties from the book
  • 06:18 – Matt met the publisher in 2012
  • 06:40 – How Matt negotiated with the publisher
  • 07:51 – Sold around 50,000 to 60,000 copies
  • 08:30 – Royalty percentage per book
• 09:50 – Matt shifted the blog from an online journal to a website generating money
• 10:44 – The affiliate offer page in the website are in the home page
• 11:35 – Average percentage people spend on travel insurance
• 12:10 – Matt sells 400-500 plan policies per month
• 12:45 – Other affiliates of Matt
• 13:21 – Matt is already with the affiliate for years
• 14:18 – Matt spent some of his time guest blogging
• • 14:38 – Matt does 2-3 guest blogs per month
• 15:03 – Matt is always traveling
• 15:11 – Matt’s email list size
• 15:54 – Matt has a team in different places
• 17:00 – Connect with Matt through his website, Twitter and Instagram
• 19:30 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

• Travel not only de-stresses you, it opens your eyes to global opportunities.
• Having affiliates is a good way to increase revenue.
• Eat healthy. You are what you eat.

 

Resources Mentioned:

• Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
• Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
• Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
• Leadpages  – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
• Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
• Assistant.to – The site Nathan uses to book meetings with one email.
• Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
• Drip – Nathan uses Drip’s email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel.
• @NomadicMatt – Matt’s Instagram account
• @NomadicMatt – Matt’s Twitter handle
• NomadicMatt.com – Matt’s website
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives